Week of 11/18 - 11/20

Lee Ch 10: Doing Right and Avoiding Wrong with the Law and Politicians
- the efficacy of a gov't PR practitioner is greatly dependent upon his audience's and colleagues' trust
- how a proposed action would appear when placed within the five macrocontexts in which he, as a government PR practitioner, operates:
1. his occupation
2. his agency
3. his country's laws
4. his country's constitution
5. his nation's sense of sacred
**"How does action X look in the context of (above)"**

The Five Institutional Macrocontexts

1. Occupation
- civil servants: hired by agencies based upon their knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience; expected to serve the public good --> deliver messages that are more substantive and less political and promotional
- political appointees: chosen by a president or agency head and the political appointee serves as an advocate for an an executor of the president's agenda --> freer to sell a president and his programs

2. Agency
- What does my agency do, why, and for whom? Does it provide services to other government agencies or the general public?
- consider what sort of communicative activities flow from the nature of his agency

3. Legal
- Gov't agencies are born from laws, and laws both create and curb the agency's authority for action
- not only is it the right thing to do, but it can give the practitioner a real sense of what is permissible and what is not, and keep him from putting his agency in legal jeopardy
- Cannot directly or indirectly pay for personal things or endorsements for a policy, etc
- What is considered illegal:
*involve large-scale publicity campaigns to generate citizen contacts with Congress on behalf of agency's position on pending legislation
* involve "self-aggrandizement" of the agency, its personnel, or activities
*"purely partisan in nature" that is, is "designed to aid political party or candidate"
*"covert propaganda" that is, the communication does not reveal that government spent money to craft or spread the message

4. Constitutional 
- A constitution holds explicit and implicit ideas about the relationship between the governors and the governed, and the general goals of the nation-state
- political power flows from people, and elected officials and their bureaucratic servants are obliged to use this power in accordance with the public's sense of right
- the public will not tolerate either elected officials or gov't employees deceiving it
- must acknowledge and think how their efforts fit or collide with the ideas of his country's constitutional ideas --> both curbs and opportunities
- messages that are constant with a nation's constitutional ideas likely will have greater resonance with the public

5. Sacred 
- "myth": a sociological process by which a people construct a narrative that defines their society and its ordering institutions
- enable citizens to assume a national identity by bridging the gap between the particular (me) and the abstract whole (America) to recognize certain rights, duties, and perspectives as a member of that nation
- the power of a narrative that taps into the nation's story

Conclude
- a practitioner should think institutionally
- Make sure what you do is NOT:
1. an abuse of your position
2. inconsistent with your agency's duties
3. illegal
4. offensive to your country's constitution
5. an outrage upon the sacred